Uniform tension winding apparatus



, Y 30, 1 c. E. MCCOY 2,986,353

UNIFORM TENSION WINDING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 23, 1958 llVKE/VTOR A 7 701mm UNIFORM TENSION WINDING APPARATUS Clarence E. McCoy, Clarendon Hills, 111., assignor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Jan. 23, 1958, Ser. No. 710,786

3 Claims. (Cl. 242-45) This invention relates to uniform tension takeup devices, and more particularly to apparatus for controlling the rotational speed of a reel in accordance with the weight of material wound thereon at any time.

In a takeup device for filamentary, strand or sheet material, it is desirable to maintain uniform tension in the material at all times. In the prior art it has been the general practice to decrease the speed of operation of the takeup device in concordance with the amount of material Wound on an arbor or a reel so as to maintain a constant takeup rate even though the effective winding diameter of the reel increases as the takeup operation proceeds. This has been accomplished by sensing means ascertaining the amount of Wound material and accordingly varying the speed of a drive unit. The most common expedient utilized is to vary parameters of an electrical control circuit in accordance with the amount of wound material and thus vary the rotational speed of a drive motor.

It is a prime object of this invention to provide an all mechanical system for varying the speed of a takeup device in accordance with the weight of the material taken up.

Another object of this invention resides in a springbiased split pulley drive for a material takeup device wherein the weight of the material taken up determines the spreading of the pulley to vary the speed of the device.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a uniform tension takeup device having a movably mounted arbor supported by drive means that may be varied in speed of operation in accordance with the amount of material wound on the arbor.

With these and other objects in view the present invention contemplates a uniform tension takeup device having a reel secured to a shaft that is in turn pivotally mounted and substantially supported by a spring. The shaft has a pulley secured thereto for a drive belt that also encircles a spring-biased split pulley which is driven by a constant speed electrical motor. As the Weight of the material wound on the reel increases, the shaft moves to extend the spring, and as a consequence, the tension imparted to the drive belt is increased whereupon the belt exerts a force to spread the split pulley. Spreading of split pulley results in a decrease in driving radius for the belt and as a consequence the linear speed of the belt decreases to impart a decreased rotational speed to the reel whereupon the tension in the material being wound is maintained constant at all times.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of an all mechanical uniform tension takeup device embodying the principal features of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the takeup device States Patent shown in Fig. 1 and particularly illustrating the pivotal mounting for a reel, and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 2 showing a plan layout of the takeup reel and supporting structure.

A reel 10 upon which filamentary material 15 is to be wound is positioned on a shaft 11 and locked thereto by means of a nut 12. It is to be understood that other takeup or material storage devices beside a reel could be mounted on the shaft 11 such as an arbor, spool or bobbin, and that other than filamentary material may be wound such as strand or sheet material. Shaft 11 extends through bearings 13 and 14 mounted Within a support member or frame 16 pivotally mounted on a pair of stanchions 17 and 18 by means of a shaft 19 extending through bearings 21 and 22.

Shaft 11 has secured thereto a pulley 23 over which a V-belt 24 passes. This belt also passes over a split drive pulley generally designated by the reference numeral 26 that consists of a pair of pulley segments 27 and 28 urged together by a spring 29. The pulley segments 27 and 28 are tapered in opposite fashions to provide a V-shaped recess for the reception of the belt 24. The split pulley 26 is mounted on a shaft 31 that is driven by a constant speed electrical motor 32.

Support member 16 is provided with a projecting arm 33 that is bifurcated at its extremity to accommodate a rod 34. Rod 34 is connected to a dash-pot 36 secured to a stationary base 37. Rod 34 has also connected thereto one end of a spring 38, the other end of which is connected to an adjustable screw 39 extending through a portion of a frame 41 for supporting the motor 32.

In order to uniformly distribute strand or filamentary material over the takeup reel 10, a distributor of a Wellknown type may be utilized. Only the distributing fingers of the distributor are shown in the drawing for sake of clarity and these fingers are designated by reference numeral 42.

In operation of the takeup device, the distributing fingers 42 will uniformly distribute the filamentary material 15 on the reel 10 as it rotates. Motor 32 imparts drive motion to the reel 10 through the agency of the pulley 26, the belt 24, the pulley 23 and the shaft 11. The support member 16 is held in a pivotally suspended position by the instrumentality of the spring 38, the dashpot 36 tending to absorb oscillations and vibrations of the apparatus during a winding operation. A certain degree of support for the reel 10 is also provided by the belt 24. As the material 15 is wound, the weight of the wound reel increases, and as a consequence, the spring 38 is extended. This action is accompanied by an increase in tension in the belt 24 whereupon the belt acting on the tapered pulley segments 27 and 28 will spread the pulley segments apart against the action of the spring 29. Now the belt will be driven by sections of the pulley 26 that are of smaller radius, that is, the belt moves toward the motor shaft 31. The change in the drive radius for the belt results in a reduction in the linear speed imparted to the belt, and as a consequence, this is accompanied by a decrease in the rotational speed imparted to the reel 10.

It is to be appreciated that in each installation wherein a difierent material is to be wound and/ or a difierent size and weight reel is to be used, it is necessary that the springs 29 and 38 be designed to have load characteristics such that the belt 24 will be pulled down between the tapered pulley segments 27 and 28 an amount sulficient to reduce the reel speed to take up the material being wound and at the same time maintain uniform tension in the material. It will be noted that the tension in the spring 38 may be adjusted by turning screw 39 and that the tension in spring 29 may be adjusted by turning a nut 43 threadedly mounted on the motor shaft 31.

It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements of apparatus and construction of elemental parts are simply illustrative of an application of the principles of the invention and many other modifications may be made without departing from the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a reeling installation of the type including a rotary reel, a drive motor therefor, a first pulley driven by said motor, a second pulley mounted to the reel for rotating the same, and a belt wound between said first and second pulleys so that the motor and first pulley rotate the second pulley and reel; apparatus for controlling the rotational speed of the reel in accordance with the weight of material wound thereon atany time, which comprises means for mounting the reel for movement in generally upward and downward directions so that the reel tends to move downward in accordance with an increase in the weight thereof, said second pulley being mounted to the reel for vertical movement therewith, one of said pulleys being a split pulley having opposing tapered pulley segments on which the belt rides tending to spread the segments apart; and means for biasing the pulley segments relatively together against the spreading action of said belt; whereby when the reel moves downward in accordance with an increase in the weight of the material thereon, the second pulley moves so as to change the tension in the belt and thus change the spacing between the tapered pulley segments so as to change the drive ratio between the pulleys and thus alter the rotational speed of the reel.

2. In combination with a reeling installation of the type including a rotary reel for taking up an advancing strand, a drive motor therefor, a first pulley driven by said motor, a second pulley for rotating the reel, and a belt wound between said first and second pulleys so that the motor and first pulley rotate the second pulley and reel;

apparatus for controlling the rotational speed of the reel in accordance with the weight of the strand wound thereon at any time, which comprises means for mounting the reel for movement in generally upward and downward directions so that the reel tends to move downward in accordance with an increase in the weight thereof, said second pulley being mounted to the reel for vertical movement therewith; resilient means for urging the reel and second pulley upward against the gravity force based on the weight of the reel, whereby the reel and second pulley move slowly downward against the action of said resilient means as the weight of the strand accumulated on the reel increases during the course of a reeling operation; the first pulley being a split pulley having opposing tapered pulley segments on. which the belt rides tending to spread the segments apart; and means for biasing the pulley segments relatively together against the spreading action of the belt; whereby when the reel and second pulley move downward in accordance with an increase in the weight of the strand thereon, the movement of the second pulley changes the tension in the belt and thus changes the spacing between the pulley segments so as to reduce the drive ratio between the pulleys and thus decrease the rotational speed of the reel.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein a dashpot is associated with the mounting means for the reel to absorb oscillations and vibrations of the apparatus during the reeling operation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,018,852 Hart Oct. 29, 1935 2,026,155 Abbott Dec. 31, 1935 2,181,373 Kent Nov. 28, 1939 2,206,246 Bannister et al July 2, 1940 

